Master an essential facet of this powerful database development platform. Detailed, step-by-step instructions guide you through the process of designing an Access application. Using the Database Wizard should help you quickly understand the components and comprehend their behavior.

This sample chapter is excerpted from Special Edition: Using Microsoft Access 2002.

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Understanding Access's Approach to Application Design

Unlike other members of Microsoft Office XP, Access 2002 requires that you
build an application to take advantage of the product's power as a database
development platform. Word 2002 and Excel 2002 let you automate simple
repetitive operations by recording Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros.
Access 2002 supports a set of macro commands for compatibility with previous
versions, but Access macros don't use VBA. Access doesn't capture your
mouse clicks and keystrokes and turn them into a series of macro commands or VBA
code. It's up to you to design and implement the Access applications you
need for your database projects.

A full-scale Access application involves at least the following three basic
Access object types:

Tables that store the data you or others add to the database

Forms for displaying and entering data, controlling the opening and
closing of other forms, and printing reports

Most Access applications also use Query objects to filter, sort, and combine
your data, and Module objects to store VBA code. Access 2002 forms can (and
usually do) contain VBA code in a special type of Module object, called a Class
Module. All objects that make up your application are stored in a container
called a Database object, which is a single file with an .mdb extension,
such as Northwind.mdb. Access is unique in that it can store an entire database
application in a single file. Other desktop databases, such as Microsoft Visual
FoxPro, require multiple files to store their objects.

New Access users often find it difficult to "get a grip" on how to
start developing a self-contained database application. Dealing with an
unfamiliar set of objects tends to intimidate first-time database developers.
Fortunately, Microsoft includes with Access 2002 various wizards that guide you,
step by step, through complex tasks. One of the most accomplished of the Access
wizards is the Database Wizard that creates a typical Access 2002
"starter" application from a set of prefabricated database templates.
In this chapter, you use the Database Wizard to create a relatively simple but
useful Contact Manager application. Then you explore the objects generated by
the Wizard to gain perspective on the relationship of Access objects and learn
how they're integrated within a typical Access database application.

If you're upgrading from Access 97 to 2002, the following features
introduced by Access 2000 are discussed in this chapter:

Subdatasheets, which open when you click a plus sign to the left
of the first field in Table Datasheet view. Subdatasheets automatically display
records of another table that's related to the current table.

Visual Basic for Applications code editor, which Access 2002
shares with other Office applications. Access 97 and earlier used its own VBA
editing window for code modules.